International business travelers now have access to the world’s first electronic ‘guardian angel’ thanks to Nomadz®, a new BlackBerry® application developed by Zurich Financial Services Group (Zurich) as part of the Zurich HelpPoint service.
Nomadz®, which is exclusive to the BlackBerry® platform, provides timely and relevant medical, health and security alert information enabling business people to stay one step ahead of potential problems as they travel. This advanced technology also helps companies to mitigate against the potential risks facing their employees.
The application is available for a free 60 day trial from the Zurich HelpPoint stands located in Heathrow’s Terminal 1 and Frankfurt’s Terminal 1.
Zurich HelpPoint is the overarching marketing campaign launched in over 40 countries in September 2008 to engage with customers to demonstrate how Zurich comes to their aid at the moment of need.
The Zurich HelpPoint stands, which opened in Heathrow and Frankfurt in November 2008, are an extension of this campaign. Since its opening, the Zurich HelpPoint stands have responded to approximately 120,000 requests for assistance from business travelers, including free workspace, free internet access, electronic charging facilities, airport inquiries and concierge services.
Nomadz®, developed by Zurich, combines information from a wide range of governmental and key travel advisory sources with data unique to Zurich. This information is collated and analyzed by Zurich 24/7 and turned into concise alerts for any business destination. All the subscriber has to do is to download their travel information into the application and Nomadz® will ensure they stay informed. Nomadz® will compare the users’ current location using GPS or their destination of travel to the latest risk information and will alert the user immediately to any issues.
An important feature of Nomadz® is the Emergency Assistance Center which can be accessed by pressing just one button in the Nomadz® application. This connects the subscriber to a 24 hour assistance service where the advisor instantly knows who is calling, where the caller is, and other relevant travel details.
Arun Sinha, Group Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Zurich, said: “We live in unpredictable times and this can have a significant impact on the international business traveler. In order to stay ahead of the competition – and keep safe – they need the right information on the move. This is the philosophy behind Nomadz® and reflects the concept of Zurich HelpPoint, to be there when and where we are needed.”
“Nomadz® can also provide companies with a valuable risk mitigation tool, offering additional reassurance for risk managers and HR personnel when employees are abroad on business.”
Subscribers to the service can also retrieve geopolitical data on a country or a city, including the risk rating for the region; the political and cultural values; languages, currency and hospitals.
Other key features include:
- Provides timely health, travel, and security alerts based on the subscriber’s current location or planned destination of travel.
- GPS-enabled BlackBerry® can produce a map of the user’s current location for navigational purposes.
- The Nomadz® monitoring service allows designated corporate personnel to track employees to determine whether any staff, organization-wide, are proximal to risks that could compromise their safety.
